Blog

For many therapy clients, and practitioners too, finding five minutes a day for a mindfulness practice can seem like an impossible task. Counselling Psychologist and former meditation teacher Cleandra Waldron explores why this might be, and shares her approach to introducing mindfulness in sessions – including compassionate understanding, a trauma-informed lens, and the no-nonsense metaphor that can help keen and curious clients to commit.

When personal trauma feels unspeakable, collective stories can lend it voice. And when fairytales are offered up for the retelling, individuals can find their own narrative agency and their own creative path through the woods. To mark National Storytelling Week 2024, Transpersonal Art Therapist and Place2Be School Project Manager Anna Atkinson shares a formative experience running a storytelling group for traumatised women.

What kind of group therapy is most therapeutic, and for whom? In the second of several blog posts about the power of group therapy, Group Analyst and Arts Psychotherapist Anthea Benjamin compares her work facilitating groups formed around sameness and those formed around difference – and considers how homogeneous and heterogeneous groups can variously function to facilitate ego development, address oppression and afford new experiences of identification.

What are the ‘non-negotiables’ of a particular therapeutic modality, and what challenges might these pose for a qualified therapist looking to retrain? With increasing numbers of practitioners showing an interest in transitioning to Internal Family Systems, psychotherapist, Certified IFS Therapist and author Emma Redfern highlights common stumbling blocks when moving from a ‘counteractive’ to a ‘transformative’ therapy style – and explains why she holds a firm line on following the IFS model.

When does stuckness give way to change in therapy? How does a resisting client become a working partner? The key, of course, lies not in exerting pressure but rather in exploring the cost of old patterns and empowering a sense of choice. Susan Warren Warshow, psychotherapist, author and founder of Dynamic Emotion Focused Therapy, reflects on the painful intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of repressing feelings – and how identifying these with compassion can help our clients leverage their healthy internal force.

For many clients who are trapped in the past by trauma, December is the most triggering time of the year. Sensory stimuli seem to be everywhere, relational pressures mount and anniversary reactions abound, while the contrast between the idealised picture of Christmas and the trauma survivor’s internal reality only compounds the sense of isolation. Andy Cottom, a psychodynamic psychotherapist who specialises in working with the impact of war and violent crime, contemplates the timelessness of PTSD – and reminds us of the true meaning of trauma.

Chemsex is not systematically problematic – but when clients are struggling to manage the risks, balance their lives, or to give up a practice they no longer enjoy, all therapists need to know how to respond. In the second of two blog posts aimed at general practitioners, psychosexual and relationship therapist Silva Neves shares the most common difficulties reported by clients who engage in chemsex – and emphasises the role of sex-positivity, harm minimisation and cultural competency in supporting clients when they are struggling.

What do therapists need to know about chemsex? In the first of two blog posts aimed at general practitioners, psychosexual and relationship therapist Silva Neves provides a helpful introduction to the practice and culture of chemsex – including why it is popular, where it may intersect with experiences of minority stress and homophobia, and which important skills can help to keep chemsex non-problematic.

Why group analysis? And why now? With interest on the rise amongst clients and referrers, Group Analyst and Arts Psychotherapist Anthea Benjamin offers the first of several blog posts on this powerful mode of therapy – reflecting on the role of group analysis in healing relational wounding, addressing issues related to power, privilege and oppression, emphasising the formative nature of community and bringing us back into connection.

How can we better support young people through the complex processing of grieving? Shelley Gilbert is a consultant psychotherapist and child and adolescent grief specialist whose work is informed by her own experience of being orphaned at the age of nine. To mark Children’s Grief Awareness Week 2023, she guides us through the Upward Spiral of Grief – a trauma-informed model that speaks to young peoples’ lived experience of loss.